1. Field of The Invention
This invention relates generally to guards used to prevent accidental contact with the tip of a needle or other skin puncturing device used in medicine.
2. Background of the Invention
For many years, considerable effort has been devoted to the production of disposable syringes, catheters, guide wires and other skin piercing instruments used in the diagnosis and care of medical patients. These devices have, for the most part, replaced previous systems that included relatively expensive multiple components used for such purposes and have eliminated the necessity to resterilize such instruments. Due to their disposability, such modern syringes, catheters and other devices have been used extensively in the field for a variety of purposes, including the injection of medicines, the insertion of intravenous devices and the drawing of blood and other fluids for analysis. The very disposability of such devices has resulted in their frequent disposal on the floor or some other convenient location durinq the course of frantic activity associated with an emergency room or other life threatening events. Thus, it is not uncommon for used disposable syringes to be thrown about an emergency room or other critical care area in which time critical medical care is occuring.
This littering of a critical care area, such as an emergency room or intensive care area, with used disposable syringes, with their exposed needles, creates many possible opportunities for health professionals and others in the vicinity to come in contact with such needles. As the technology for producing these needles has improved, they have become thinner and sharper and thus present a very high probability of skin penetration in the event that a part of the human body, whether it is clothed or not, impacts the end of such a needle. While the probability of infection from such needles has always been present to some degree, the infection of a significant portion of the population with the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) virus and the life threatening nature of this disease to anyone infected with it has heightened concern in the medical community about such needle penetration. While the exact mechanism of infection by AIDS is not completely understood, it is well known that the penetration of the skin by a needle contaminated with blood from a person infected with the AIDS virus can cause such an infection.
Since there is often insufficient time during most emergency procedures to screen those being treated for the AIDS virus, there is thus always a possibility that needles used in critical care areas may be contaminated with the AIDS virus. Recent documented cases in which health professionals have been infected by the AIDS virus transmitted through a contaminated needle has heightened this concern and their exists a need to prevent such infections if the quality of emergency care is to be maintained.
The very nature of emergency medical treatment prevents comprehensive use of disposal procedures and the most effective device to accomplish these requirements would be one requiring no manipulation on the part of the operator and one which was relatively simple, inexpensive and moderately foolproof in its operation. Due to the range of procedures which must be undertaken, it would be useful if any such device would be amenable to various types of injections such as intramuscular injections, partial injections, blood drawing and guide wire insertion of catheters. While safety is the most important aspect of any such a use, it would also be helpful if such a safety system were also relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture.
From the above it may been seen that a serious need exists to protect health care professionals from accidental contact with contaminated needles in an emergency room and other emergency medical treatment environments and that such a safety system should be simple, relatively foolproof and easily operated.